Writing and Materiality in Ancient China
The Textual Culture of the Mawangdui Tombs
Seiten
2025
Columbia University Press (Verlag)
978-0-231-21956-3 (ISBN)
Columbia University Press (Verlag)
978-0-231-21956-3 (ISBN)
- Noch nicht erschienen (ca. Dezember 2025)
- Versandkostenfrei
- Auch auf Rechnung
- Artikel merken
This book is an interdisciplinary study of the varied forms of writing found at the Mawangdui tomb site in south-central China, exploring the different roles that texts played in the lives and afterlives of Chinese elites during the Han dynasty.
Excavations at the famous Mawangdui tomb site in south-central China (early to mid-second century BCE) have unearthed many kinds of writing, including documents made of silk, wood, and bamboo as well as a wide range of inscribed artifacts. This book is an interdisciplinary study of these varied forms of writing, exploring the different roles that texts played in the lives and afterlives of Chinese elites during the Han dynasty.
Examining documents and artifacts from the Mawangdui tombs in comparative perspective, Luke Waring demonstrates that early Chinese writing should be understood as part of the material and visual cultures of its time. Written texts were used to do more than simply preserve and transmit important information: they were also work tasks, storage items, performance aids, apotropaic talismans, aesthetically pleasing patterns, display pieces, possessions, and burial objects. Writing was even integrated into older, perhaps more powerful modes of cultural expression such as ritual performance and material display. Waring argues that manuscripts and inscribed objects were always things, artifacts that had powerful effects on the world that created them. Comprehensively researched and lavishly illustrated, Writing and Materiality in Ancient China offers a new understanding of the textual cultures of the early Western Han.
Excavations at the famous Mawangdui tomb site in south-central China (early to mid-second century BCE) have unearthed many kinds of writing, including documents made of silk, wood, and bamboo as well as a wide range of inscribed artifacts. This book is an interdisciplinary study of these varied forms of writing, exploring the different roles that texts played in the lives and afterlives of Chinese elites during the Han dynasty.
Examining documents and artifacts from the Mawangdui tombs in comparative perspective, Luke Waring demonstrates that early Chinese writing should be understood as part of the material and visual cultures of its time. Written texts were used to do more than simply preserve and transmit important information: they were also work tasks, storage items, performance aids, apotropaic talismans, aesthetically pleasing patterns, display pieces, possessions, and burial objects. Writing was even integrated into older, perhaps more powerful modes of cultural expression such as ritual performance and material display. Waring argues that manuscripts and inscribed objects were always things, artifacts that had powerful effects on the world that created them. Comprehensively researched and lavishly illustrated, Writing and Materiality in Ancient China offers a new understanding of the textual cultures of the early Western Han.
Luke Waring is an assistant professor of Asian studies at the University of Texas at Austin.
Acknowledgments
Conventions
Dynasties and Western Han Rulers
Introduction
1. The Li Family Tombs
2. Producing Texts
3. Curating Texts
4. Performing Texts
5. Visualizing Texts
6. Burying Texts
Conclusion
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 23.12.2025 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | Tang Center Series in Early China |
| Zusatzinfo | 1 Maps |
| Verlagsort | New York |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 156 x 235 mm |
| Themenwelt | Geisteswissenschaften ► Archäologie |
| Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Vor- und Frühgeschichte | |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte | |
| ISBN-10 | 0-231-21956-3 / 0231219563 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0-231-21956-3 / 9780231219563 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
| Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
Mehr entdecken
aus dem Bereich
aus dem Bereich
auf den Spuren der frühen Zivilisationen
Buch | Hardcover (2023)
C.H.Beck (Verlag)
CHF 27,95
Erkennen. Bestimmen. Beschreiben
Buch | Softcover (2022)
Deutscher Kunstverlag
CHF 27,85
